Modern vehicles, such as sport utility vehicles, may employ various suspension components that not only support the weight of a vehicle and its contents, but also contribute to various aspects of comfort of the passengers seated inside the vehicle. One such component is a rear suspension track bar. Although generally satisfactory for their given application, such track bars have not been without their share of limitations. For instance, existing track bars are not sufficiently effective at damping mid-frequency gear whine (400-600 Hz range) generated in the rear differential or carrier gear set and heard in a passenger compartment. This is due primarily to the materials used in fabrication of existing track bars which may be limited in mass and sophistication and thus transmit higher than desired vibrations. Finally, existing track bars may lack the desired level of stiffness to optimally dampen vibrations that traverse through the track bar during vehicle operation.
What is needed then is a device that does not suffer from the above limitations. This, in turn, will provide a device that dampens mid-range frequency (400-600 Hz) vibrations in the track bar. Furthermore, a device will be provided that increases the mass of the track bar, and finally, a device will be provided that both stiffens and adds central mass to the track bar and thereby dampens vibrations in the track bar.